


A Matter of Trust

by hlravensnest_archivist



Category: Highlander: The Raven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-31
Updated: 2005-12-31
Packaged: 2018-12-16 21:58:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11837850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hlravensnest_archivist/pseuds/hlravensnest_archivist
Summary: Note from Daire, the archivist: this story was originally archived atHL Raven's Nest. Deciding to give the stories a more long-term home, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address onHL Raven's Nest's collection profile.





	A Matter of Trust

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Daire, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [HL Raven's Nest](http://fanlore.org/wiki/HL_Raven%27s_Nest). Deciding to give the stories a more long-term home, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [HL Raven's Nest's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hlravensnest/profile).

A Matter of Trust by RSSacchi

  
  
  


_A Matter of Trust_

By RSS 

* * *

Nick, Bert, and two men from Bert's security agency are on their way to make an exchange. A business tycoon's adult daughter has been kidnapped. As they approach the exchange point, an abandoned building, Nick senses another Immortal. 

"Bert, something isn't right." Nick slows the SUV to a stop. 

"What?" 

"Just take my word for it. We should play this one straight." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yeah, I'm sure. Bert, you know I can take care of myself. There are too many places for someone to see us coming." Nick takes off his microphone and earpiece. 

"Nick, this is crazy!" 

"This is one time I really need for you to trust me." Nick steps out of the SUV and takes a duffel bag full of money. 

"You turn around and drive away. I'll call you when I want to be picked up." 

"I don't like it." 

"Trust me." 

Nick walks away from the SUV and Bert turns the vehicle around and drives away. Nick walks slowly to the house. A few moments later he looks around to make sure Bert and the others are out of sight. Nick draws his rapier and steps onto the front porch then kicks in the front door and sees a woman at the other end of the room. He cautiously steps inside as the woman pulls back her raincoat's lapel, revealing her sword's handle. 

"I didn't come here to fight. Is whatever in that bag or this envelope worth getting killed over? Is it really worth killing over for that matter?" 

Nick steps inside. 

"That's close enough. Toss it over there." 

Nick tosses the bag to the side of the room where the woman pointed. The woman tosses the envelope at Nick. 

"Good, now just turn around and leave and we can both enjoy the rest of our long lives." 

Nick takes a quick look behind him then backs towards the exit then stops. "Nick Wolfe." 

"Ena D'ary." 

Nick backs out of the room. 

* * *

Nick steps into the SUV. 

"Has the bag moved?" 

"No." 

Nick opens the envelope. It's a map and a note. 

"The note says she'll be here between 10 and 11 o'clock provided no one shows up at the spot between 9:30 and 10 and no police show up." 

"It's about an hour and a half drive from here." 

"I'll go you guys stay here and watch the house and don't do anything heroic." 

"I agree on no heroics, and that includes you. The two of us will go; the rest of you guys stay here." 

"Okay, I'll call Amanda she can come by and pick you guys up." 

The two other men step out of the SUV and Bert speeds off. Nick calls Amanda. 

* * *

Nick and Bert walk through an abandoned lot. Nick calls Amanda on the phone. "Has that bag moved?" 

"No, it's still beeping in the same place." 

Nick and Bert spot the body of a young woman. 

"Oh God." 

Nick checks for a pulse; she's dead. "Amanda, move in!" 

Bert gives the body a close look. "It looks like she's been dead at least a day." 

They check the area for a few moments. Amanda calls Nick. "Your homing device hasn't moved but the money has." 

"You telling me the money is gone and there's no one around." 

"Yeah." 

* * *

Nick and Amanda are back at The Sanctuary. Amanda follows Nick into his office. "Amanda, do you know Ena D'ary?" 

"The name doesn't ring a bell." 

"She's an Immortal." 

"I figured." 

"She's about 5-5, 110 pounds, medium brown hair. She looks about 25." 

"In other words she looks like hundreds of other women in Paris." 

"Do you know her?" 

"No, maybe Liam knows her, I'll ask. She's the one you met tonight?" 

"Yeah." 

* * *

Amanda walks into Nick's office. "I just talked to Liam. He hasn't heard of her either." 

"I found her. There was an Ena D'ary who was born in 1876, grew up in an orphanage. Found strangled in 1900. Then there's a record of an Ena D'ary who was in Paris in 1925, 1949, 1976, then there's this one who arrived here from America in 2000. Here's her passport photo." 

"I'm impressed." 

"It's easy to find something once you know what you're looking for. That house where we dropped off the money, the underground used it during the war. It has an escape tunnel." 

"Does she have any criminal record in any of her lifetimes?" 

"No. There's a young woman lying dead in the morgue and this Ena D'ary is involved." 

"Let's meet this Ena D'ary." 

* * *

Nick and Amanda arrive at an apartment building in a run down area. Nick parks the SUV and they make their way to the apartment. The lock on the front door is broken and the elevator is out of order. 

"Which floor is she on?" 

"The fifth." 

"Ah, the penthouse suite." 

As they ascend the stairs they sense another Immortal and Nick draws his sword. 

"Nick, we still have two flights to go. That sword will be hard to explain to a mortal using these stairs." 

Nick sheathes his sword and they continue up the stairs. They reach Ena's front door and Nick draws his sword again. 

"Nick, let's talk first." 

"Just want to be ready." 

"She doesn't know me. Why don't I knock?" 

Nick stands next to the door. Amanda knocks and takes two steps back. Ena opens the door. 

"Who are you and why are you here?" 

"I want to talk to you about yesterday. Can I come in?" 

Nick hears Ena step back. He steps in the doorway with his sword at the ready. 

Ena raises her sword. "I don't have the money." 

"Where did it go?" 

"Into these lavish surroundings." Ena waves a hand at the Spartan room. 

"I paid you the ransom. The woman was killed anyway." 

Ena gasps; she lowers her sword and slides onto a chair. She breathes heavily. "I know a secluded place where we could get this over with." 

Amanda sits across from her. "In such a hurry to lose your head? If you cooperate we might permit you to stay alive." 

"No, no, I can't take that chance." 

Nick steps towards Ena. "Her name was Alice Lemare. She was the same age as when you met your first death; she only had one life. She was strangled. " 

"You don't understand." 

"What's to understand? A woman was murdered." 

Amanda moves her head closer to Ena's face. "Darling, whoever you're covering for isn't here now, we are. You'd better worry about us." 

"You'd better worry about who I'm covering for." 

"Why don't you tell us who he is?" 

"Someone I loved, a mortal. I thought it was time to take him into our universe. Soon after he realized what every Immortal has to fear." 

"Decapitation?" 

"Discovery, he started bilking me. When I told him we were finished he started blackmail. Then when I had nothing left he had me do things for him." 

"How could you let that happen?" 

"He said he would expose me." 

"Who would believe him?" 

"Anyone who sees me heal in a public place." 

"Ena, did you ever think of killing him?" 

"I can't kill a mortal. It's difficult enough to kill another Immortal." 

Nick sheathes his sword. "Tell us who he is and we'll solve your problem." 

"You mean kill him?" There's a few seconds of silence. "No way! I'm not going to help you kill him and then pretend I didn't know what would happen." 

Nick opens a door and steps into the bedroom. 

"Hey, what are you doing? This is my place." 

Amanda strips Ena's sword from her and puts it to Ena's chest. "Just sit pretty, otherwise darling you may find it painful, if not fatal." Amanda moves the sword's point to Ena's neck. 

Nick scans the bedroom. He walks over to the phone by the bed and unscrews the receiver, placing places a bug inside. He goes to the closet but there's nothing there except clothes. He goes to her dresser but only finds more clothes. He opens a jewelry box and finds some costume jewelry and a key. He looks under the bed and finds a strong box. He takes the strong box and the key into the room with Amanda and Ena. Nick puts the box on the table and tries the key. It works. 

The box has pictures and other mementos. There's a black and white picture of her and a man in front of the Statue of Liberty that looks like it's from the 1930s. Nick sees other pictures of her with other people in front of landmarks. Then he sees a picture of her and a man with the London Eye in the background. Amanda tilts her head as she looks at the picture. 

"It was taken on the Westminster Bridge wasn't it?" 

"I'd say we've found our man." 

"Darling, why don't you give us a break and put a name with a face?" 

"I'm not going to tell you anything. Did you think he might be an innocent man?" 

Nick asks curtly, "Is he?" 

Her silence answers Nick's question. He continues, "I wonder if you'll answer without saying anything." Nick turns over the picture. The writing on the back reads "With Jean Ambrogi, London September 2001." 

"That's more than I expected." 

"After the first few decades I needed full names." 

Amanda snatches the picture. "You don't mind if we take this do you, darling?" 

Nick and Amanda leave, they hear Ena sobbing as they step out of her apartment. 

They walk down the stairs. 

"You know she hasn't done anything I haven't done." 

"That's what makes me believe she might be telling the truth." 

"What if she says something about us on the phone?" 

"I am hoping she does." 

"No, I mean us, Immortals. Your man might get suspicious." 

"I said she lived in a fantasy world, that makes her a perfect dupe." 

"You're getting good at this." 

* * *

Nick and Amanda walk into Nick's office. Nick turns on his computer and calls the people he has monitoring Ena's phone calls. 

"Anything yet?" 

"No, nothing." 

"Let me know if you hear anything." 

Nick searches for information on Jean Ambrogi. "I've got some addresses." 

"He's probably long gone." 

"Not necessarily, it's hard for a mortal to walk away from an Immortal, believe me. Especially if that Immortal is a goose that lays golden eggs." 

Nick does more searching and narrows his list to a single Jean Ambrogi. 

* * *

It's 12:47 AM as Amanda and Nick drive to Jean Ambrogi's address. Amanda's Mercedes fits in with the other cars in the area. They park on the street and walk to Ambrogi's front door. "This house use to belong to Ena D'ary." 

"An interesting reversal of fortune." 

Nick rings the bell a few times. There's no answer. "Amanda, would you do the honors?" 

"Who would pick your locks for you if I wasn't around?" Amanda takes out a nail file and works on the lock. In a moment she has the door open and they step inside. 

"Do you suppose he's a heavy sleeper?" 

"When I would pull a really big heist, I'd often celebrate." 

They make their way to the master bedroom. Amanda turns on a light. "What?" 

"It would attract less attention than a flashlight. If he comes back he'll just think he left the light on. That'll buy us a few extra minutes." 

Nick notices a black and white picture on the wall. It's a picture of Ena in a wedding dress standing with her hand on a seated man who is wearing a tuxedo and a stern look on his face. 

"Look at this." 

"Something he can hold against Ena." 

They continue looking. In a closet there are a lot of shoeboxes, one of which Amanda opens and finds it full of money. Nick opens another box also full of money. 

"If there was ever any doubt." 

Amanda opens another box and shows the money to Nick. He takes another box. It feels heavier than the others. This box is filled with diaries. Nick thumbs through one of the diaries and notices a date: November 4, 1938. 

"Ena's diaries." 

"An Immortal who keeps a diary. I thought I was irresponsible." 

Another shoebox has diaries. 

"We take the picture and the diaries. We leave the money." 

"Leave the money?" 

"Yeah, we take the evidence he needs and leave the evidence we need." 

"Breaking into a place and leaving all this money. You are going to ruin my reputation." 

"I prefer to think of it as making you an honest woman." 

* * *

Nick is in his office when the phone rings. He answers the phone. 

"Nick, it's Bert. Listen to this." Nick hears this above a lot of static. 

"So you thought you were cute taking your picture and diaries." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Don't be coy with me. Who else would break into my house pass up a ton of money and just steal some diaries and an old picture." 

"A young woman was kidnapped and murdered. Did you have anything to do with it?" 

"Don't change the subject. There are many ways to prove who you are so don't have any illusions you accomplished something. It looks like I'm going to have to keep you on a shorter leash. You stay right where you are. I'm going to call you back in about an hour. You'd better be at home unless you want your little secret exposed." 

Bert shuts off the recorder. 

"It seems they're both living on a different planet." 

"I think it's time you pick him up. Amanda built up some rapport with her yesterday so we'll go over and see if she can give us something more on him." 

"Are you sure about this?" 

"Yeah, I'm sure." 

"Hold on." Nick waits on the phone for a few moments then Bert continues. "I just got a call. Ambrogi left his house." 

"Change of plan. Have him followed but not too closely." 

* * *

Nick knocks on the door to Amanda's suite. She opens the door holding one of Ena's diaries in her hand and is wearing the same clothes she had on last night. 

"Avante." 

"We've got to go, Ambrogi has left his house. I've got a hunch he's on his way to Ena." 

"Okay, you bring the car around. I'll meet you out front." 

* * *

Nick and Amanda are on the way to Ena's apartment. Nick drives as Amanda reads one of Ena's diaries. 

"Were you up all night reading her journals?" 

"Yes, I figure it would be the best way to know her." 

"What did you find out?" 

"For starters that wedding picture. They were married in June 1914. He died at Verdun. She didn't take her first head until 1922." 

"Enough of Ancient history. What about her recently?" 

"That's why I brought this one. She wrote this not long after telling Ambrogi her secret: 'Jean has been acting differently since I told him I was an Immortal. That's not unexpected I suppose. Maybe it is because it has been so long since I've shared my secret. He says it doesn't matter so maybe my apprehension is unfounded.' It's obvious from her writing the relationship took a nose dive." 

"So you're convinced he just decided he could use her Immortality to suit his needs." 

"Yes." 

* * *

Nick and Amanda arrive at Ena's apartment. They hear a man yelling inside the apartment. Nick knocks on the door and Ena opens it. Nick spots Ambrogi inside the apartment and brushes past Ena. 

"Jean Ambrogi, you're going down for kidnapping and murder." 

Ambrogi turns to Ena. "So you decided to turn me in. I'm not the only one with secrets." 

Ambrogi takes out a gun and points it at Ena. Nick draws his gun and points it at Ambrogi. "Ambrogi, put the gun down, you're not going anywhere." 

"If you play it smart you can have more than your wildest dreams. Ena, give them a demonstration." 

Amanda slips a gun out of her purse and shoots Ambrogi. He shoots Ena and laughs as he gasps for air. 

"Now you pay for your betrayal Ena. Don't let her out of your sight. She will get up in a few minutes." 

Ambrogi dies. Amanda checks him for a pulse. 

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

Nick and Amanda stop by Ena's apartment. Amanda has Ena's wedding picture and Nick carries Ena's diaries in a large box. Amanda hands the picture to Ena. "These are your diaries." 

Nick puts the box on the kitchen table. "You know it's customary to say thanks." 

"Jean made me an unwitting accomplice to murder and you made me an unwitting accomplice to murder. I hardly think it's customary to give thanks for that." 

"The circumstances were different." 

"After a hundred years you realize the differences are irrelevant." 

Amanda turns Nick around then puts her face close to Ena's. "Darling, after a thousands years you'll realize the differences are the only things that are relevant." 

Nick and Amanda step out the door. 

**THE END**

* * *

© 2005   
Please send comments to the author! 

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